One Big Happy Family
by prettylittlepinklady
Summary: Our favourite Seven Seas High graduates have moved on with their lives and are happily living, with one big, happy family.
1. Where We Meet Cody's Family

"Mom!" Ten-year-old Mackenzie yelled from her bedroom where her younger sister, Indianna was attempting to climb up to the top of the wardrobe. Sighing, the girls' mother dropped the washing and headed up to Mackenzie's room to discover the problem.

"What is it Mackenzie?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Bailey saw her youngest daughter halfway up the wardrobe. Letting out a shriek, she rushed across the room and grabbed the little girl, yanking her off and putting her back on the floor.

"Momma! I want up!" Indianna cried, pointing up to the wardrobe again.

"Sorry sweetie. It's dangerous for little girls. Mackenzie, why didn't you stop her?" Bailey rounded on her other daughter.

"I didn't think she'd get that far." Mackenzie said with a nonchalant shrug, turning back to her laptop which was open on her lap. Bailey let out a low growl and snatched the laptop away, shutting it harshly.

"Hey! I was using that." Mackenzie complained.

"I don't care. Your sister was climbing up an unstable structure. Why would you not do something? You're grounded young lady. You can stay here until your father comes home." With that, Bailey took hold if Indianna's hand and marched out of the room, shutting the door behind her. She led Indianna down to the living room where two of her sons, Xavier and Oscar were watching TV.

"Boys, look after your sister please." She instructed, setting the young girl in between the boys.

"Sure mom. What was Mac yelling about?" Oscar asked.

"Don't worry. But don't go into her room, she's in trouble." Bailey said before heading back to the laundry to finish her task. As she worked, she reflected on her life. After graduating from Seven Seas High, she had left for Yale, without Cody. Starting classes, her life began to blur and after the first few weeks, she began to feel like there would be no end to the mess that was her life. She'd been sitting in her dorm one night, attempting to study when she'd been interrupted by a knock on her door. Opening it revealed Cody standing there with a bunch of flowers and chocolate.

"Cody! What are you doing here?" She asked excitedly, letting him into her room.

"I told you I'd come visit, didn't I? Well, here I am. And I have news." He grinned.

"What?"

"I talked to the Dean of admissions and it turns out there was a mistake in my letter and I actually got accepted. I'm coming to Yale!" He cried. And the rest, you could say is history.

Both of them graduated top of their classes and while Cody became a Lawyer, Bailey went into a career of Veterinarian. They got married a few months after graduation, a small ceremony on the beaches of Hawaii with only their closest family and friends attending. After their honeymoon, they moved into a huge house in Chestnut Hill, near the reservoir. For two years, they lived happily together and finally decided that they were ready for children. Eventually, Bailey fell pregnant and nine months later, she gave birth to their first children, fraternal twins Freya and Alexander. When the twins were one, Bailey again fell pregnant, this time with their next son, Oscar. There was a break between Oscar and the next set of twins of about two years and along came identical twins Melissa and Faith. It was barely eighteen months afterwards that Mackenzie and Xavier were born. Another year passed before their youngest son, Matthew was born, followed another year later by Indianna.

With a total of nine children, Cody and Bailey decided that was enough and Cody received a vasectomy. Because of the amount of work needed to look after nine children, Bailey decided to become a stay at home mom while Cody worked. It was now that they were extremely thankful for their large house, meaning that nearly every child had their own bedroom. When Indianna had been born, they had not had a spare room and had told the children that someone had to share. In the end, Alexander offered to share with Oscar at the same time that Melissa and Faith offered to share. To avoid an argument, they had allowed both pairs to share a room, leaving them with a spare room in case someone wanted to have their own room again.

The house itself was perfectly laid out for a big family, with what was affectionately known as the 'kids wing' taking up most of the second level. There was a large open area in the middle with all eight bedrooms around the edge, a large bathroom off to one side. In the big area, there was an array of coloured bean bags on the floor around a huge TV. On the walls in between each door was a photo turned into a sticker of each child, a frame surrounding the face so that part of the image could still be seen outside the frame. A big stereo system took place opposite the TV and it was nearly always playing.

Down on the ground level, a huge country style kitchen was the centrepiece with a large dining room on one side and a formal living room on the other. An entry way was cut in half with a staircase leading up to the second level on one side, the entry to the kitchen hidden behind it. The master bedroom was tucked in beside the front entry and the dining room with an ensuite and walk-in-wardrobe. Beside the front door was a large rack that was covered with shoes for the entire family. The kitchen had one wall that almost completely opened up to the backyard where a big patio was covered with a big grill and dining table. At the back of the yard was a big fire pit where the family liked to gather in the summer and tell stories.

A third level, the basement held the laundry and a small parent's retreat as well as Cody's treasured wine cellar and an average sized home theatre. There was also a third bathroom, a home library and small study where the kids could use the computers to research if they needed. There was an overall theme to the house of an old country farmhouse, with worn furniture taking residence in every room. By the time Bailey finished in the laundry, Cody had arrived home and was relaxing in the living room with Indianna on his lap. Oscar and Xavier had been joined by Alexander and the three of them had left the couch, taking up residence on the floor.

"Hey sweetie. How was your day?" She asked, going over and leaning across the back of the couch, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Until then, my day had been pretty average." He grinned at her, putting Indianna on the floor with her brothers and leading Bailey into the kitchen.

"I missed you today." Bailey told him, pulling him into an embrace.

"I missed you too. Why is Mackenzie so upset?" Bailey grimaced and pulled back a bit.

"I told her off this afternoon. Indi was in her room and trying to climb up the wardrobe. Instead of doing something, she just called me." Cody shook his head and sighed.

"I don't know what she has against Indi. She was never upset about Matt."

"It's a sister thing, I think. She thinks that Indi will take her place as our little girl. I was like that when Bobbie was born."

"But, even Freya's our little girl still."

"I know that, and you know that, but try explaining it to a ten year old." Bailey said with a laugh.

"I guess. What are we doing for dinner tonight?"

"I was thinking of throwing some sausages on the grill and putting a couple of salads together. I can't really be bothered to make anything more complicated."

"Sounds good to me. Do you want me to man the grill?"

"If you'd like. I'll get started on the salads. Any requests?" Having such a big family meant that everyone had different favourites so there was always an extensive amount of food in the cupboards.

"Whatever you feel like." Bailey kissed him again before heading over to the freezer and grabbing out a pack of sausages and passing them over to him to cook on the grill outside. Before heading out, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped it open, tossing the lid at her which she caught and put in the bin, a move they'd perfected over their years of marriage.

Within an hour, the sausages were being pulled off the grill and Bailey was busy setting the table on the patio with the salads in the centre. When she was done, she went back to the kitchen and pressed a button on the intercom that sent a buzz through the whole house, alerting the kids to the meal awaiting them. It was like a herd of elephants coming through the house as all nine of the children rushed out, trying to get to the best spot at the table.

It took an hour before everyone was finished and the kids slowly left the table, each one taking their plate into the kitchen until it was only the salad dishes left and the sausage plate. A friendly silence fell over the Martin household as each child moved from their day-time activities to their evening activities. Freya and Alexander were down in the study with Oscar finishing some homework. Melissa and Faith were lounging on the floor of the area upstairs, flipping through a magazine while Xavier watched the TV with Matthew. Mackenzie was sulking in her bedroom and Indianna was in the kitchen with her parents, helping to put the dishes away before heading up to bed. Cody and Bailey eventually joined Matthew watching the TV but sent him to bed soon after and flipped the channel to watch the news. By ten-thirty all the kids were in bed with their lights out so Cody and Bailey went down to their room where they collapsed into their own bed, exhausted from the day.

Yes, their lives seemed chaotic but it really wasn't they all had a schedule to follow and Cody and Bailey had drilled into their kids the importance of sticking to it to prevent total chaos breaking out.


	2. Where We Meet Zack's Family

At 38 years old, Zack Martin couldn't be happier with his life. He was married to the best woman in the world and had great kids. After graduating from Seven Seas High, he'd spent a few weeks moping about the Tipton hotel with his brother, heartbroken by his break-up with Maya. But when Cody managed to get into Yale after clearing up some confusion, he began to realize he needed to do something with his life. After a lot of research, he decided that he and College just wouldn't mix and a boring day job just wouldn't cut it with him so he applied for the Army. Not long after, he got accepted and went off to training almost straight away. Once there, he sent a letter to Maya, hoping that if she could see how responsible he was being, she might want to get back together. It had taken weeks for a reply to come back and what he read surprised him. Maya had originally gone to the Peace Corps but had decided it wasn't what she wanted and had left, returning to New York to begin classes at NYU. She told him she was proud of him for making the decisions he had and would be waiting for him when he got back.

Zack could barely wait until his deportment was over and when he finally knew when he'd be getting home, he sent Maya another letter. However, his commanding officer had taken a liking to the young soldier and offered for him to go home two days earlier than originally planned to surprise her. Of course, Zack agreed and immediately rang Cody and told him of his plan to surprise Maya. Cody was extremely excited, both about his brother coming home and the fact that he was doing something so romantic.

In the following few weeks, Zack used as much focus as he could on the war at hand and used his spare time to discuss the details of his plan with Cody and Bailey, who had been let in on the secret. The plan was that Bailey would meet up with Maya in Boston to go shopping while Cody would pick up Zack from the airport. Bailey would tell Maya that Cody would soon be meeting them and they would sit down to have lunch. After that, Cody would appear, alone, and join them for a while until Zack came in and surprised Maya.

Everything went perfectly to plan and Zack stood just outside the little café that had been chosen, dressed in his uniform, watching until he finally plucked up the courage to walk in. It took a moment for Maya to realise he was there but immediately started crying tears of joy when she finally saw him. After a long embrace, Zack let go of her and knelt down on one knee, pulling a ring out of his pocket. All three at the table gasped, this was one part of the plan no one had known about.

"Maya Elizabeth Bennett. I know we haven't had the best relationship in the world but even when we broke up, I never stopped loving you and I never want to go another day without you. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" He asked, his words being the most sincerest he'd ever used in his life. Maya couldn't speak, her hand over her mouth and tears flowing down her face so she just nodded, holding her other hand out to him to slip the ring on. He did so quickly and stood up, capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. The entire café erupted into applause as the couple stood together, simply enjoying being near each other.

The two were married three years later, after Maya graduated, mere months before Zack was deported to Afghanistan again. Before he left though, Maya revealed that they were expecting their first child and the entire time he was overseas, he kept a copy of Maya's first sonogram in his pocket, refusing to see even a photo until he got back home, eighteen months later to find Maya holding his one year old son, Ethan. He and Maya just stood there, in the middle of the airport, holding each other and Zack holding his son for the first time.

In between Zack's deportments, they had other children and soon they had a fairly big brood of their own, not as big as Cody and Bailey's but they had six children, Ethan being the oldest followed a year later by twins Hunter and Flynn. Then came Imogen and finally, twins again, Sienna and Georgia. Unlike Cody and Bailey, Zack and Maya didn't have such a big house and both sets of twins had to share a room while Ethan and Imogen had their own rooms.

On the second level of Zack and Maya's house, a hallway ran down the middle, decorated with photos of the kids at various stages as well as an array of artwork and certificates gained by each child. On the left hand side was Imogen's room, a bathroom and then Sienna and Georgia's room. The other side had Ethan's room, another bathroom and Hunter and Flynn's room. At each end of the hallway was a window , one looking out onto the street out the front and the other looking into the backyard.

Down a level, on the ground floor was the living room, kitchen, dining room and laundry. The kitchen in this house also opened up to the backyard but it was only a sliding French Door that allowed access to the patio where Zack's treasured grill was stored. Out in the backyard was a magnificent tree house that Zack had built just after Ethan was born as well as a swing set and a sandpit. A small section was barricaded by bushes where there was an outdoor seating area, cushions stored in a wooden box nearby to spread out if the weather was nice. The area was primarily meant for the parents but occasionally the family would gather there to tell stories and have fun.

In the basement was the Master bedroom, complete with ensuite and walk-in-wardrobe as well as a small wine cellar and home theatre. A study was the final room down there, the walls lined with shelves of books for referencing and a desk with a single computer.

Most of the time, when Zack was away, Maya felt that the house was too big but when Zack was home, it felt just right. The kids were a great help to her, and they had a pretty good schedule going but it wasn't always followed and there were times when mornings were absolute chaos. Of course, Zack being around made it much easier and he did try to make sure he was home for all the big achievements in his kids' lives.

While Zack was nearing 40, he decided that his next deployment would be his last. This made Maya extremely happy as she would now have her husband home more frequently. It also meant that he would have to find another job to fill his days as the money he'd made from the defence force wouldn't last forever, especially with six kids so he began searching for other jobs he could do instead and eventually decided that he couldn't imagine leaving the army behind and offered his services as a trainer for the incoming soldiers and the army, having had Zack as one of their most prized soldiers, agreed, holding a spot open for him when he returned from his final deployment.

A/N: Okay, do people want chapters where we really get to know the kids or do you want more story chapters? Let me know 'cause I don't mind which way I go.


	3. Introducing Freya

Freya was the eldest of Cody and Bailey's children by only a few minutes because her brother was born not long after. She had a quiet nature most of the time and was often mistaken as being shy. However once you got to know her, she became quite talkative and her parents had a hard time getting her to be quiet at times.

When she started high school, she joined the cheer squad, surprising the people she wasn't close friends with but she backed herself up by saying that being on the squad allowed her to meet new people, keep fit and have fun. In the ends, it had been a good decision on her part as she had ended up getting her crush to ask her out because of it. Since then, she and Jason Middleton had been inseparable and were close to becoming the school's 'it' couple. Cody wasn't particularly enthused that his little girl had a boyfriend but he knew that he had his hands tied, considering he'd met his wife when he was fifteen.

When it came to her family, Freya was very loyal, even going as far as to risk her own social image to defend them if she had to. She'd stood by as her brother beat up some kid that had picked on Oscar and announced to the watching crowd that the same would happen to them if they tried anything different. It was because of this that she was slightly feared among her fellow students but most of them knew she wouldn't hurt a fly.

Many people found Freya as a multi-layered person because she was quite hard to become friends with. The few who had become close to her were still finding out new things about the girl every day. Often, the fact that she was so hard to get close to meant that people didn't like her but she didn't car, happy to only have a few close friends rather than be one of those people who had heaps of friends but none who were particularly close. In the end, she found herself with a group of four other girls, Tia, Ashley, Hanna and Britney. The five girls were sometimes referred to as a cult because they were always sitting close together, keeping their conversations low so that others couldn't hear. Once, the girls decided to play on that fact and for a whole week, they dressed exactly the same every day. Bailey and Cody had found it hilarious when Freya shared the stories at the end of each day but the five girls had decided it was too hard to keep doing it all the time and so went back to just being themselves, much to the thankfulness of their peers and teachers.

The only people who had ever come even close to being in the group were, of course, the girls' boyfriends. However, if one of them did something wrong, they were immediately shut out and none of the five would talk to them again.


	4. Introducing Alexander

Alexander was the oldest boy in the family, of course aside from his father. He was very protective of his twin sister, often embarrassing her with his overprotectiveness. While she was quiet at school, he was the complete opposite, being one of the popular guys, getting caught up in the crowd at times and becoming involved in bullying on occasion but as soon as he realised what had happened, he felt extremely guilty and it took Freya days to pull him out of his guilt stricken slump.

He hadn't been interested in football, choosing instead to join the drama club and earning himself a reputation as a heart-throb with all the girls swooning over him, especially after he had revealed his talent in singing in the last school musical. His parents couldn't have been prouder and there was currently a program from the musical sitting on the kitchen bench, his signature on the front, for everyone to see.

As of yet, he didn't have a serious girlfriend but he did have his sights set on a pretty blonde girl named Rachel Matthews. The two of them were friends and those around them could tell that they were clearly into each other but neither of them had made a move. Freya loved to tease him about it, saying that if he didn't make a move soon, she'd give up and move on to some other guy. He always laughed it off but inside, the thought gnawed away at him.

He spent a lot of his time working on arts related things and he had actually had a painting published in the school newspaper. When he was younger, he'd copped a bit of bullying because of his natural artistic streak but he'd learnt to overcome it and now didn't bother to hide his talent.

Unlike his sister, though, his social image was very important to him, probably because of the bullying, and wouldn't go as far in protecting his family as Freya. Although he did once beat up a kid who had been picking on Oscar. He'd been suspended for it but his parents told him he'd done the right thing, although they did tell him he'd gone a bit too far.

There were times when he felt a bit lost in the crowd of siblings that was always around but he knew that his parents did try their best to make sure that each child got an equal share of their time. He also knew that his artistic talent pushed him more into the spotlight and tried to not brag about it so much at home. School, however, was a different story and he was allowed to brag about his work whenever he liked. His friends often called him a teacher's pet in his art classes because the teachers loved him. It was the same in drama and music.


	5. Introducing Oscar

Oscar was by far the academic one of all nine children. He was often referred to as the family nerd by his siblings but his parents assured him that it was okay to be smart. As well as being academic, he was a bit of a ladies man, having all the girls flocking around him and he had more than once been caught with one or more girlfriends that didn't last very long. He had been warned by his parents of the trouble his uncle had gotten into by doing that and since then he had definitely toned down his player-ish ways but he couldn't help himself all the time.

Being the single child in the middle of three sets of twins, Oscar often felt a bit lonely, especially when the twins paired together for things and the two younger kids paired together. But on those occasions, he was comforted by his parents and soon felt better.

When he was younger, he'd been bullied a fair bit, mostly on account of the braces he'd worn which only added to his 'nerd' label but after Alexander had beaten up that one guy, he'd been mostly left alone and was now actually the source of many guys' jealousy for getting the girls.

He was the proud captain of the school's mathletes team and had been in the debating team for years. As well as all this, he was still a family-orientated boy and was often asking to do family activities which weren't all that easy most of the time as they had to fit in with everyone's schedule.

He currently had a steady girlfriend with whom he'd been going out for nearly six months. Pretty little Melanie had been a bit taken aback the first time he'd come over with the whole family being home at once and the usual chaos taking over the household. However, the two of them had eventually escaped to Oscar's room and spent their time talking together, of course Cody and Bailey were smart enough to make him keep the door slightly open so that he didn't get any ideas but the other children knew not to go in. Since then, Melanie had become used to the Martin family and had even met the other half, being Zack and Maya's kids when she'd joined Oscar for Indianna's birthday party a month ago.

Oscar was very proud of his older brother, looking up to him as if he hung the moon in the sky, especially when he got an award for something. He was always the one to be first in line to buy tickets to one of Alexander's shows and actually had one of his paintings hung in his own locker. Of course, that meant he had to have something from each of his siblings in there as well so he had a picture of Freya in her cheerleading uniform, a picture of Melissa and Faith waving. He also had one of Mackenzie, Xavier and Matthew at one of Melissa's dance concerts. There was a picture of him and Indianna and finally a picture of him and his parents after his first mathletes competition. In the middle of all these family photos was one of himself and Melanie the first time she'd come over to his house.


	6. Introducing Melissa

Among Cody and Bailey's children, Melissa was the one who lived in the moment. If she wanted to do something, then she would find a way to do it, no matter what the after affects would be. It was because of this that she was the one out of all the Martin children who had been to hospital the most for broken bones. Even though she was only eleven, she had broken her right arm three times and her left leg once, she'd had stitches on her shoulder and left knee and there was a scar on her right shin from where she'd cut it on a skateboarding ramp she made. Cody and Bailey were often left out of breath trying to keep up with her as she had so much energy and there never seemed to be enough time in the day to use it up, meaning it took ages for her to go to sleep at night. Of course, she was a lot better now than she had been when she was younger but most nights she still didn't get to sleep until after ten.

She was very athletic and was on the girls' basketball team, the swim team and danced every Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning with her sisters Faith and Mackenzie. She was the star of the swim team, having brought home several first place ribbons and gold medals, even winning a trophy at the end of the previous season. In basketball, everyone wanted to be on her team. She spent the entire game running full speed up and down the court, shooting goals from halfway down the court at times. Her coach refused to pull her off the court for any reason unless she hurt herself with was rare. She rarely hurt herself doing normal, everyday activities, more often injuring herself while trying to tame her daredevil streak. Her dance instructors were also very impressed with her athletic ability, praising her highly and giving her solos in each concert. This often made her two siblings jealous but their parents assured them that they would find their own talents one day.

When she was younger, she'd been fairly close with Alexander but they'd grown apart in the last year or so and didn't spend so much time playing in the backyard together anymore. She didn't know why Alexander had stopped playing with her so much but she put it down to his wanting to look good for whatever musical or concert he was in next.

As well as being athletic, Melissa was also very popular and was always the centre of attention at school. She was always surrounded by people and always laughing at some joke or other. However, she wasn't popular because she tried to be. People just seemed to gravitate towards her naturally. And no one could resent her for that. Not even Faith who sometimes felt left out when Melissa was immediately swarmed by people upon their arrival at school. Melissa always made sure that Faith was invited to any party or get together that she was otherwise she wouldn't go.

Melissa, although popular, had only one close friend that she told everything and that was her sister, Faith. The two of them were best friends and had been forever. They told each other everything and were inseparable at home. At school, they had to be apart at times because of different classes and different friendship groups but always made sure they made time to be just the two of them.


End file.
